***The Official AKV Owners And Lovers Thread***. Come And Chat

[makewi]

We were at AKL in March when it all got shut down. Absolutely love that resort, but it was very weird seeing it like a ghost town. Ate breakfast at Boma the Monday after the last day resorts were open and we were one of maybe 4 other groups in there

 

[twinklebug]

Thanks for your quick reply, VWL buddy!
The long hallways do concern me, but we aren't planning long park days, so maybe it won't bother me as much. Hopefully, if we request a good location it will work out OK. If worse comes to worst, I will rent an ECV.
I don't think we will have our car. Our family seems to be split on the flying v driving issue right now. But I will keep what you said in mind, and in my notes!
As far as renting points, I have considered it over the years but I just can't give up having a 5 day cancellation policy. I'd rather pay more than lose more, I guess. My parents are both in their 90's and I just don't feel comfortable not having an easy way to cancel if I have to.
Thanks for your quick and informative reply!

I hear you loud and clear on the elderly parent thing. My mom is alone now, but I have a brother who checks in on her weekly.

A story, if you'll allow me to tell:

Years ago when I was a child we were camped in Disney's Fort Wilderness. On our second night there a knock came at the door and my mom was given a note that her dad was at the hospital back up north. With Disney's help my mom and dad got a flight home for my baby sister and mom so she would be there for my grandpa. After she was off my dad took my brother and I into Sea World and the Magic Kingdom before making the trek back home with the trailer, all while he had caught a bug at one of the parks. (LOL, dad fed us Bologna or steak the whole time... I never ate bologna again.)

My point I suppose is that Disney was always very good with assisting those in need. I'm not so sure how they are these days as the number of people they have to tend to has gotten out of control and the personal touches are gone. But, there's still a good chance that if you rent direct through Disney and anything happens, Disney will do what they can to help.

DVC offers no such assistance as we're timeshare owners, and when the points are gone they're gone.

 

[Deeleebaker]

I booked a cash club level 2br villa for February at Jambo four years ago, as my first trip back to Disney in ten years or maybe 20, and I had no idea what a villa was or club level. We got bumped to the Vice Presidential suite. If I had the cash (or now,,points) I would book Club level 2br every time for a chance of pixie dust striking twice.

 

[twinklebug]

I booked a cash club level 2br villa for February at Jambo four years ago, as my first trip back to Disney in ten years or maybe 20, and I had no idea what a villa was or club level. We got bumped to the Vice Presidential suite. If I had the cash (or now,,points) I would book Club level 2br every time for a chance of pixie dust striking twice.

That's amazing!
What was the experience like walking into that room?

 

[Deeleebaker]

That's amazing!
What was the experience like walking into that room?

The room wasn’t ready for us at 4 and I was PISSED as we had arrived at 10 and been in the park all morning. They took us to the club concierge who said the room had finally been cleaned but a manager had to inspect it first. That seemed really weird. When I finally was told the room number, I walked by it twice because it’s a double door with a wood plaque And a name not a number. That’s when I started to think something was up. Walking in to that lobby....yes the suite has its own vestibule... lets just say when the luggage arrived I dragged the cast members in and took them on a tour!
My boyfriend says it ruined any other Disney vacation for him. We would get home from the parks, turn on the fireplace, take out the drum, yes there’s a drum in the room, and drum on the balcony. Morning double shot lattes in the room before even hitting the club lounge for breakfast.
I have no idea what it actually costs to book that room, but it was exquisite.
I now own at AKV and may someday buy points from someone to try and book a 2BR club.

 

[twinklebug]

The room wasn’t ready for us at 4 and I was PISSED as we had arrived at 10 and been in the park all morning. They took us to the club concierge who said the room had finally been cleaned but a manager had to inspect it first. That seemed really weird. When I finally was told the room number, I walked by it twice because it’s a double door with a wood plaque And a name not a number. That’s when I started to think something was up. Walking in to that lobby....yes the suite has its own vestibule... lets just say when the luggage arrived I dragged the cast members in and took them on a tour!
My boyfriend says it ruined any other Disney vacation for him. We would get home from the parks, turn on the fireplace, take out the drum, yes there’s a drum in the room, and drum on the balcony. Morning double shot lattes in the room before even hitting the club lounge for breakfast.
I have no idea what it actually costs to book that room, but it was exquisite.
I now own at AKV and may someday buy points from someone to try and book a 2BR club.

I imagine it would ruin any other trip... Just tell him that the challenge is to experience ALL the rooms and resorts.

You had me at "turn on the fireplace".

 

[karen4546]

The Jambo stores and dining locations are not expected to open until the hotel side of Jambo opens. For now Jambo is DVC only. I don't believe I've heard an opening date announced yet, the site still shows it all down for booking in 2021. The pool is open as are the lobby and walkways around the resort. It's sort of a ghost town.

There is a shuttle to take you from jambo over to Kidani where the small store is open as is Sanna, which also is doing take out from what I understand.

Thanks for the information. We bought DVC in May 2019 direct and this will actually be our first stay using our own points (we rented many times before with David's).

We have a value studio booked and you can't beat the points per night on those-no matter where your room is located.

We have stayed on the cash side hotel many times also. Kilamanjaro club is/was fantastic! AKL just speaks to us and that is why we bought there.

We have used our newly acquired points @ CCV and BCV. But, we are looking forward to all of our scheduled trips we have at AKV Jambo house for 2020 and 2021. Fingers crossed they open soon.

 

[Deeleebaker]

I imagine it would ruin any other trip... Just tell him that the challenge is to experience ALL the rooms and resorts.

You had me at "turn on the fireplace".

I‘ll see if I can dig up his photos. My mom was super gracious and let us have the king Size bed that attaches to the decadent bathroom And she took the regular 2 queen bedroom attached.

we stayed at Beach Club this year, and our Welcome home is a 6 day split stay between Grand Floridian and Boardwalk In a studio Next February. Unless by Jan 1 Florida is still increasing cases in which case I’ll probably book September at Jambo and Bank all my 2020 points.

 

[Frederic Civish]

HI all ! Just checking in. We will arrive December 12. Is the gift shop open @ Jambo? We are driving this time and so we can go to Walmart for groceries but I like browsing the gift shop every time we come back from the parks. It is our routine. If it is not open, we will have to figure out something else to do.

For those staying @ Jambo House.... tell me all your experiences. And, for those in the "know". Any news on more things opening at the resort? Jiko, Boma, MAra etc.

I also strongly recommend that you find a DVC owner to make the reservation for you, and rent the points from them. You can find one on boards like this, or you can go through an agency that 'brokers' DVC rentals.

I would strongly recommend staying at Kidani for now. The ONLY advantage that Jambo currently has over Kidani is Jambo's impressive lobby. There is no food or restaurant at Jambo and no general store or gift shop that is open. Kidani has more options.

Do try to get a Savannah View. If there aren't a lot of you, look for a 1 Bedroom Savannah View unit. It will have a bedroom with a King Bed, plus a Queen Sleeper Sofa AND a Sleeper Chair in the living room. And 2 bathrooms at Kidani.

 

[Starwind]

Hello everyone! After years of WDW trips to my familiar resorts, mostly WL, we are now thinking that AKL, especially Kidani, would be a great choice for our granddaughter's first trip in early 2022. She will be 2.7 years old, and judging by her reaction when she saw a Kidani walk-through video yesterday, I think she will love it. I have always been partial to resorts with water transportation, which is why I always hesitated when my daughter kept suggesting it over the years. Well, now that we are in planning mode, I am getting really excited!
I will not ask all my questions at once, but start with the basics. As a non-DVC owner, I will do my usual routine of booking two rooms in the lodge whenever they become available and then trying to modify to a villa. How hard is it, usually, to get a cash 2BR villa? Our target date is first week of February 2022. Speaking of February, if it's cold, do the animals still roam around the savannahs?
We are thinking of a resort and granddaughter-centric trip, so any suggestions would be welcome! Also, I would like to avoid the experience we had at BWV with unending hallways just to get to an elevator, so suggestions about room location, even though it is so far off, would also be welcome. Any rumors about refurbishments?
OK, will stop now! TIA!!

We love WL - when we walk into the lobby it just feels like "home". But this past December we stayed at AKL in a Jambo hotel room [standard view; we ended up in a room with a partial savanna view] and absolutely loved it - we will stay there again some time, probably for a largely resort or resort-only stay because the resort was just amazing and we loved spending so much time there.

Since you will first book hotel rooms when they become available, know that the Jambo hotel rooms were renovated last year and are really nice. Here are some links to a blog and video about those newly redone rooms:

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/new-rooms-animal-kingdom-lodge-jambo-house-review/

We really liked the carpetless flooring and other features [and are therefore looking forward to WL's hotel refurbishment ].

As part of booking our stay we also looked at booking a DVC villa through Disney. So in preparation we stalked the WDW website for months before to get an idea of when they release the rooms, the pattern of release, what availability is like etc.

Now, we were looking at Jambo and Copper Creek [pre and post stays bracketing our cruise] but also glanced at Kidani, BRV and noticed the other DVC resorts when doing searches.

The following info was correct pre-covid but some or all of it may longer valid in the covid environment: while normal hotel rooms are available to book over 400 days in advance, that is not the case for DVC rooms being made available for the public to book "for cash" directly from Disey (or via your travel agent). The DVC rooms are released the rooms to the public for booking at the 10-11 month mark, or sometimes in the 9-10 month window. This makes sense, since DVC members can book at their home resort at 11 month out. I have found that not all resorts will load their rooms in the same day, and for a single resort, not all their rooms will all load in on the same day, sometimes it takes a few days [so the 1 bedrooms may load one day and the others on a later day; keep checking if you don't see what you want !!!]. After the initial release of DVC rooms, availability will come and go in subsequent months -- whether that is more being added or people changing their mind is not entirely clear.

Regardless, if they don't initially have what you want, check back as availability changes. However, your best option is took book early if you can as that is when there is the most availability; but note that at that point you will be booking at rack rate. If a promo comes out later you may or may not be able to change your rate [it depends if there are any of your room type at your resort availabile for that promo rate -- we have had trips where our resort was part of the promo but not our room type and the room types that were were with the promo more expensive than our rack rate room so we still ended up with rack rate; and other trips where we lucked out and were able to get the promo].

Doing a quick check suggests that at least for the DVC rooms the above seems to still hold true.

I suggest to get a feel for yourself you spend some time over the coming months putting in dates in that 10+to11 month window and seeing what availability is like, how they load up the rooms, etc.

I picked 08/16/2021 - 08/20/2021 as an example and for Kidani there is availability for everything except the Grand Villas.

As for walking distance, FYI, the walking distance from the lobby door to the far end of one of the wings the rooms are on is about 500 m. The two redeeming qualities is that unlike say Beach Club with lots of twisty turns, it is one long [curving] hallway, and there are lots of spots along it you can peer out onto the savannah and possibly view animals [or at least a view]. So depending where you room is it can be a long walk if headed to/from the lobby, but it is straightforward. And there are elevators regularly along the way. Others have commented re: the parking situation.

SW

 

[karen4546]

I also strongly recommend that you find a DVC owner to make the reservation for you, and rent the points from them. You can find one on boards like this, or you can go through an agency that 'brokers' DVC rentals.

I would strongly recommend staying at Kidani for now. The ONLY advantage that Jambo currently has over Kidani is Jambo's impressive lobby. There is no food or restaurant at Jambo and no general store or gift shop that is open. Kidani has more options.

Do try to get a Savannah View. If there aren't a lot of you, look for a 1 Bedroom Savannah View unit. It will have a bedroom with a King Bed, plus a Queen Sleeper Sofa AND a Sleeper Chair in the living room. And 2 bathrooms at Kidani.

I am a DVC owner and I made the reservation myself. I have stayed at Jambo House many many times and I love it. I

I THINK YOU MAY BE "MISQUOTING ME". The statements above are useful information though.

 

[karen4546]

I also strongly recommend that you find a DVC owner to make the reservation for you, and rent the points from them. You can find one on boards like this, or you can go through an agency that 'brokers' DVC rentals.

I would strongly recommend staying at Kidani for now. The ONLY advantage that Jambo currently has over Kidani is Jambo's impressive lobby. There is no food or restaurant at Jambo and no general store or gift shop that is open. Kidani has more options.

Do try to get a Savannah View. If there aren't a lot of you, look for a 1 Bedroom Savannah View unit. It will have a bedroom with a King Bed, plus a Queen Sleeper Sofa AND a Sleeper Chair in the living room. And 2 bathrooms at Kidani.

does not pertain to my post.

 

[bluecastle]

We love WL - when we walk into the lobby it just feels like "home". But this past December we stayed at AKL in a Jambo hotel room [standard view; we ended up in a room with a partial savanna view] and absolutely loved it - we will stay there again some time, probably for a largely resort or resort-only stay because the resort was just amazing and we loved spending so much time there.

Since you will first book hotel rooms when they become available, know that the Jambo hotel rooms were renovated last year and are really nice. Here are some links to a blog and video about those newly redone rooms:

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/new-rooms-animal-kingdom-lodge-jambo-house-review/

We really liked the carpetless flooring and other features [and are therefore looking forward to WL's hotel refurbishment ].

As part of booking our stay we also looked at booking a DVC villa through Disney. So in preparation we stalked the WDW website for months before to get an idea of when they release the rooms, the pattern of release, what availability is like etc.

Now, we were looking at Jambo and Copper Creek [pre and post stays bracketing our cruise] but also glanced at Kidani, BRV and noticed the other DVC resorts when doing searches.

The following info was correct pre-covid but some or all of it may longer valid in the covid environment: while normal hotel rooms are available to book over 400 days in advance, that is not the case for DVC rooms being made available for the public to book "for cash" directly from Disey (or via your travel agent). The DVC rooms are released the rooms to the public for booking at the 10-11 month mark, or sometimes in the 9-10 month window. This makes sense, since DVC members can book at their home resort at 11 month out. I have found that not all resorts will load their rooms in the same day, and for a single resort, not all their rooms will all load in on the same day, sometimes it takes a few days [so the 1 bedrooms may load one day and the others on a later day; keep checking if you don't see what you want !!!]. After the initial release of DVC rooms, availability will come and go in subsequent months -- whether that is more being added or people changing their mind is not entirely clear.

Regardless, if they don't initially have what you want, check back as availability changes. However, your best option is took book early if you can as that is when there is the most availability; but note that at that point you will be booking at rack rate. If a promo comes out later you may or may not be able to change your rate [it depends if there are any of your room type at your resort availabile for that promo rate -- we have had trips where our resort was part of the promo but not our room type and the room types that were were with the promo more expensive than our rack rate room so we still ended up with rack rate; and other trips where we lucked out and were able to get the promo].

Doing a quick check suggests that at least for the DVC rooms the above seems to still hold true.

I suggest to get a feel for yourself you spend some time over the coming months putting in dates in that 10+to11 month window and seeing what availability is like, how they load up the rooms, etc.

I picked 08/16/2021 - 08/20/2021 as an example and for Kidani there is availability for everything except the Grand Villas.

As for walking distance, FYI, the walking distance from the lobby door to the far end of one of the wings the rooms are on is about 500 m. The two redeeming qualities is that unlike say Beach Club with lots of twisty turns, it is one long [curving] hallway, and there are lots of spots along it you can peer out onto the savannah and possibly view animals [or at least a view]. So depending where you room is it can be a long walk if headed to/from the lobby, but it is straightforward. And there are elevators regularly along the way. Others have commented re: the parking situation.

SW

Thank you so much for all that information!! I too have had variable times out when modifying my 2 individual rooms into a villa as well as trying to get a promo rate. I have always made my 2 rooms res at 499 days out and then somewhere along the line I start calling to modify it. But even though my countdown is around 465 days, they haven't opened up those dates yet. I intend to call, or go online, as soon as I hear anything!
Those rooms look so nice! I have stayed in a few refurbished rooms and villas and love those laminate floors. (although the beds in FQ were too high for me to get into!)
I guess Kidani doesn't have those floors? I really need to do more research! Thanks again!!

 

[Castillo Mom]

Thanks for your quick reply, VWL buddy!
The long hallways do concern me, but we aren't planning long park days, so maybe it won't bother me as much. Hopefully, if we request a good location it will work out OK. If worse comes to worst, I will rent an ECV

When staying at Kidani, I've always requested a room on the 2nd floor near the lobby due to mobility issues. So far, the request has always been granted so you may want to have that noted on the reservation.

 

[Frederic Civish]

does not pertain to my post.

Yeah, somehow I got you crossed up with someone else's posts

 

[nasmith]

I booked a cash club level 2br villa for February at Jambo four years ago, as my first trip back to Disney in ten years or maybe 20, and I had no idea what a villa was or club level. We got bumped to the Vice Presidential suite. If I had the cash (or now,,points) I would book Club level 2br every time for a chance of pixie dust striking twice.

Better stick with reserving that 2Br. CL with cash if you want a chance at the VP suite. DVC cannot upgrade you to a cash room - ever.

 

[bluecastle]

When staying at Kidani, I've always requested a room on the 2nd floor near the lobby due to mobility issues. So far, the request has always been granted so you may want to have that noted on the reservation.

Thanks! I'm thinking along those lines, depending on how my back, as well as other health issues, are doing when it gets closer.

 

[Deeleebaker]

Better stick with reserving that 2Br. CL with cash if you want a chance at the VP suite. DVC cannot upgrade you to a cash room - ever.

Good to know. Don't think I'm likely to drop that much cash ever again. I spent that much getting my 110 points resale. The concierge told me they had overbooked 2BR CL and we got it because we had the least amount of people. There were 4 of us.

 

[Dindi]

We own at Kidani and usually stay there, but are staying in a value one bedroom at Jambo in January. Can anyone who frequents Jambo confirm if the only rapid refill mug stations are in the now closed Mara and gift shop? Kidani has a refill station at the pool, but I am not seeing anything about a station at the Jambo pool.

 

[Spinster Travel]

Just bought my first contract, resale, at the Poly. It's partially stripped for this year, but I've got enough points for a Savanna view Studio for my spring trip, so I've booked it at Kidani. Super looking forward to my first stay at AKL!